


Meet Me by the Water.

by Kali Cephirot (KaliCephirot)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 06:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliCephirot/pseuds/Kali%20Cephirot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaldur takes notice of Artemis little by little, detail by detail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet Me by the Water.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://malin-j.tumblr.com/post/41537671578) amazing fanart.

Meet Me by the Water

The music and noise of the party is distant here. Here, the sunset paints Artemis’ pale hair with orange hues, the blue of her dress setting off the rich tones of her skin. The weather is a little too warm for his tastes, the reason why he moved away from the barbecue and the rest of the party and Artemis had simply stood up and followed.

With his ‘you don’t have too’, she’d just snorted and said ‘Duh’ and then she had simply fallen to walk by his side. Her hand, at times, brushes the back of his.

“It has been quite an evening,” he says. He smiles at her. “A peaceful one, even.”

“Don’t jinx it!” Artemis says with a wide grin. Her hair falls free around her face and her shoulders, not quite combed, still a little wet. Free of its usual tail it covers the whole of her back and Kaldur’s fingers itch with the suppressed urges to touch it. The brush of Artemis’ hand against his is, for a moment, a little more on purpose now. “There’re still a few hours to go. Don’t wanna fight an invasion or something.”

“My apologies,” his own smile comes easily enough. He nudges her hand back. “I’ll make sure not to ‘jinx’ it by being logical.”

“Why, thank you, mister Spock,” he catches the reference, briefly, but is, ultimately, distracted by the way Artemis’ nose wrinkles when she smiles at him like that. It is something Kaldur hadn’t quite noticed before and, for a moment, he debates telling her he finds it charming.

The lake is already deserted, the promise of hotdogs and burgers much more powerful than the sweet promises of water. If the weather didn’t remain, perhaps, quite so hot as it is, perhaps he would be able to ignore it a little better.

“Go on,” she says, nudging his arm with more purpose, the back of her fingers against his arm, reading him without Kaldur needing to say anything. “I promise I won’t get offended or anything.”

“Are you certain?”

“I promise I won’t get offended because you decided to swim again,” Artemis takes hold of his arm so she can take off her shoes, then moving to sit down, right there by the pier. “I’ll wait.”

He accepts her word: he takes off his shirt and his own shoes, leaving them by her side over the pier before he dives unto the sweet water of the lake. He reaches for the bottom of the lake just for the joy of being in the water again before he swims back up. Artemis’ smile widens when he emerges.

“Don’t you care for another swim, my friend?” He offers. “I assure you, the water remains quite warm.”

“I don’t doubt you, Kaldur,” Artemis says. She flips her toes a bit, sending droplets of water towards him. She shrugs. “But I already took off my swim suit.”

He says nothing, just looks at her with a smile. Happiness suits Artemis in ways, he hopes, someone is letting her know. The courage of the young woman who became his teammate all those months ago remains, but gone are her uncertainty, her fear. It is, Kaldur thinks again, a good look on her.

Then, out of nowhere, Artemis snorts.

“You are so totally unfair,” she proclaims with her bright, joyous laughter. Artemis, when she laughs, does it with her whole self: she throws her head back, laughs open mouthed and loud. “Okay, fine, fine! But I’m gonna put you on hair-combing duties after this, you have NO idea how long it takes for my hair to dry!”

He had expected her to just dive as she was clad. But Artemis is too practical for that: she follows his example, pulling off the dress over her head and leaving it to her side. Like before, for reasons he cares not to consider, he is struck once again by the rich brown of Artemis skin, the shape of her arms, by the small scars that are over her legs.

And then he’s struck by water as Artemis decides to throw herself in a small tight ball over the water to catch him on his distraction. She is laughing as she emerges, her hair floating around her.

“Got’cha!”

Kaldur resists the urge to reach for a strand of her that is stuck over her face, fingers itching. Instead, he feels like smiling again, so he does.

“You certainly did, my friend.”


End file.
